The future happens fast sometimes.
The Milledgeville Police Department on Tuesday gave the media and the public a sneak peak of its new BRINC DFR drone, one of four BRINC DFR drones in Georgia and the only one in middle Georgia. DFR stands for “drone as first responder.”
Revenue from Redspeed school zone speeding tickets was used to purchase the drone.
A large part of the drone’s purchase price is its camera, capable of zooming in 40 times and reading license plates and road signs from 240 feet in the air. The camera also has thermal imaging.
The new drone, which has a maximum 42-minute flight time, has its own air conditioned drone house on the MPD headquarters’ roof. From a distance, it sounds like an electric razor. Five different MPD officers are certified to fly the drone, which is done from a computer inside the police station.
The BRINC drone is actually one of nine drones in use by the MPD. Four smaller drones are stored in the back of the force’s Chevrolet Tahoe patrol vehicles. An even smaller MPD drone was used during a hostage situation back in April, which followed a shootout between a deputy and a man off of Sinclair Marina Road. The drone was used to fly into the house and survey the scene before first responders entered.